Do you love me?

Confrontation is an examination. It is a procedure that trusts another to look at some part of your life that you may not know about or understand. Healthy confrontation is necessary if we expect to build healthy lives and live in peace. - Danny Silk - Culture of Honor

      The Lord has been talking to me on many subjects and as I wait for the pieces to come together He said to start with this from His child.

     Do you love me enough to speak up?  You see my behavior changing.  You see me acting out.   You suspect that I am being abused, but will you ask if I am okay?  You see something in my eyes, is it fear, is it pain, will you help me?  But what if you do?  What if you address what you see?  Will I shrink away in shame, believing that somehow it is my fault they are hurting me?  Will you be the safe person who I feel comfortable to share that something is wrong?  If the abuse goes unchecked it will only get worse.  Not only will the wounds dig deeper into my soul, but others around me will begin to feel the effects of those wounds.


     We automatically think this is coming from a child being mistreated by an adult, but what if this was written by a child of God being abused by a demonic spirit?  Read it again.  We see it happening as they become filled with pride and arrogance or maybe they are shrinking away because of a spirit of fear.  We know they have so much to give and the enemy is keeping them from giving it. 

     There is the other side of this.  What if you are the one being tormented and you don't see it and a friend approaches you?  We can't take offense.  The most important commandment is to love each other.  To see a child being abused by an adult or a child of God being tormented by a demon and do nothing is allowing it to go on.  True love speaks up. 
     I have been that abused child.  I was abused for several years by several people and nobody ever asked.  I have been that child of God tormented by the enemy and I thank God He gave me friends to speak up.  If you love me you will confront.  After all, it is not the one being abused who is actually being confronted it is the abuser, the accuser, the liar, the tormentor who we war against.
     Being tormented by a demonic presence most often turns to sin.  A spirit of perversion can lead to an affair or pornography addiction.  A spirit of fear can lead to disobedience to God.  A spirit of control can turn into abusing and/or manipulating others. 
     God allowed you to see something that spoke to your heart and said "Something is wrong here."  He showed you for a reason.  Always ask if you are the one to confront or maybe you are called to pray.  Pray that the one called to confront hears His voice and steps out with courage.  Pray for His will to be done.  Pray for the abuser to be exposed.  Today people are so afraid to confront or get in other people's business, but we are called to love and no where in the bible does it say that love is easy.  But one thing love is... is action.

“Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community